Stargate Atlantis CANCELLED

According to Multichannel News, Stargate Atlantis will end it's run on SciFi at the conclusion of season 5. According to the same source, a 2 hour TV movie will be made next year to air on SciFi, followed by it's DVD release.

Space drama Stargate Atlantis will conclude its run on Sci Fi Channel after the current, fifth season ends next January -- but the network has greenlit a two-hour Atlantis movie to run after that and says the show will live on as a network franchise.

After airing on Sci Fi sometime next year, the untitled Atlantis movie will be sold as a home-video title by producer MGM, Sci Fi told Multichannel News on Wednesday.

I normally don't post in this forum (Only seen bits and pieces of all the stargates) but this is shocking. I thought Atlantis was going well for Scifi? Ratings were decent, they win a People's Choice and now the show is canceled? With BSG leaving, Doctor Who not on very much and now Atlantis canceled, I guess this is the very end of "Sci-Fi Friday." As someone who watched shows like Farscape, BSG, and liked the whole Sci-Fi Friday thing, this is kind of sad.

Can't say I'll be sad to see it go. Here's hoping that Joe Flanigan, Connor Trinneer and Robert Picardo can get on better sf/f shows quickly.

There are too damn many really excellent genre actors who aren't on good shows.

From SyFy, and I've been wondering when the dollar's slide would start hitting Vancouver productions:

Mallozzi, the "Atlantis" show runner, has stated in his blog that five years may be the limit for franchise shows in the future. He cited the fact that the rising Canadian dollar versus the U.S. dollar is becoming an expensive way to make Vancouver-produced shows like those in the "Stargate" family.

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The ratings were decent, so it must be the exchange rate that was the nail in the coffin. This will start impacting other sf/f shows in Vancouver. Maybe they can get some decent credits in New Mexico or other inexpensive places? How about Utah, that's some stunning scenery and it can't be that pricey.

Most TV shows nowadays are lucky to get one full season, let alone five. SGA had a run--I wouldn't necessarily call it a good run--but five seasons is nothing to sneeze at.

Hopefully now TPTB will sit back and take a break for a couple of years, and hopefully let the batteries recharge. Like Trek after Voyager, Stargate could use a bit of a break. Of course, UPN didn't let Trek have that break, so I wonder if MGM will give Stargate one.

My reaction, sadly, was the same as when the word came that Enterprise was cancelled in season 3, namely, "Oh, thank God, now they can do it right." In Enterprise's case, that would be in the novels, and in Atlantis's case, it'll be with the DVD movies (which I've quite enjoyed). Season 4 was the weakest year of Stargate, and the episodes that have aired so far in season 5 are all right, but haven't been enough of a turnaround to really get me fired up. Now, hopefully, the show will continue to get its footing back, and the next fifteen episodes will be so mind-blowing that, by the end of the season, I'll be sure they've gotten their mojo back and regret that the series isn't going to continue (as I was when Enterprise was actually cancelled, in season 4). As it is, though, I think giving them some time to recharge their batteries, and a large enough budget that they lose their irrational fear of actually using the damn stargate once in a while (I don't even need "romancing the gate," just show the thing turn on more than twice a season) is the best possible outcome.

Gah. I'm torn on this. I loved Seasons 1-3, but thought 4 and 5 were mostly crap. On the other hands, Atlantis is one of SciFi's highest-rated shows at the moment, so it makes no sense to me to cancel it. And with BSG ending in 2009, Atlantis cancelled, and Doctor Who taking a year off, SciFi only has one proven show heading into late 2009/2010. If this was a normal network, someone's head would be rolling about now. But SciFi has an amazing tendency to frak everything up.

Sorry for the small rant on SciFi, but I'm through investing anything in their shows. $5 says Eureka is killed after its fourth season, for no good reason.

That is fucked up beyond belief. Sci Fi is canceling their first run shows left right and center. First BSG and then Atlantis? I mean seriously, wtf? Oh that's right, they got Caprica and Sanctuary. I give those two shitfests one season at best, just like Painkiller Jane and Flash Gordon. Idiots.

Joseph Mallozzi has confirmed the news on his blog (his confirmation came in post #49).

The general consensus seems to be that MGM in fact pulled the plug so they can focus on DVD movies, and of course Stargate Universe. I was actually pretty much expecting this to happen ever since they said that they wouldn't launch SGU until after Atlantis ended.

Those motherfuckers. I'm starting to get really pissed off right about now.
It wasn't the best show, and it was inferior in just about every way to a lot of other shows, but I loved it. Even when everyone trashed it, I stood by it, just like with Enterprise.

I'm seeing a pattern here. Sliders is a bit of an exception to the SciFi rule, as it had a whole saga of a behind-the-scenes issues, but the others were all highly successful (for SciFi) at the time they were cancelled. Eureka will probably be cancelled after the fourth season at this rate, and then what will SciFi have? Nothing. And good riddance to them.

I can't really say I'm upset about this. I'm past the point of being angry about S4. I'm apathetic, so that makes the cancellation sort of a non-event for me. I've been keeping up with Gateworld, and it seems that while the ratings were okay, there were other factors that would make the difference between renewal and cancellation. I think people can blame the success of the SG1 movies. MGM saw a way to save themselves some money.